Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 6/26/19
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a $383 billion spending package that included USDA funding for 2020 and that would slow implementation of proposed new pork inspection rules.
The bill was passed by the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month.
In February 2018, following a 20-year evaluation in five market hog establishments, FSIS issued a proposed rule for stakeholder comment and proceeded with the rule making process.
The proposed rule includes a voluntary, opt-in inspection system, called New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS), for market hog establishments, and separate mandatory testing requirements for all swine establishments.
The changes would be similar to those already in place for the poultry industry. The same groups, such as National Employment Law Project, that opposed the poultry inspection changes oppose the pork inspection changes. The National Pork Producers Council and the North American Meat Institute support the proposed pork inspection changes.
The House Appropriations bill also would block USDA’s proposal to put its Economic Research Service (ERS), currently under USDA’s research mission area, under the Office of the Chief Economist, which is under the Office of the Secretary. Economists have raised concerns the move could reduce the independence of the agency and the economic predictions it produces.
Earlier this month, USDA announced it would not move forward with the plan to realign ERS under the Office of the Chief Economist. ERS will remain under the Research, Education and Economics mission area. ERS plans to relocate ERS, along with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to the Kansas City region.
The bill would also require USDA to restore on its website in full all animal welfare and horse protection inspection reports that were taken down weeks after the Trump administration took office.
The House Appropriations bill must be approved by the Senate and signed into law by the White House to become law.
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